Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca officials announced that more than 155,000 ticketed moviegoers attended the 11-day fest this year, down from 185,000 last year (over 12 days) and 203,000 in 2006 (over 13 days), according to their records. This, despite the fact that organizers lowered ticket prices by 20 percent and centralized screenings and activities in the Tribeca and the Union Square area. They estimated total attendance of just under 400,000 at the 2008 Festival. The Observer's Sara Vilkomerson wrote: "At seven years old, it’s time to ask: Can Tribeca grow up?" We're not so sure New Yorkers are willing to allow Tribeca to graduate from film festival pre-school given those numbers.

The Tribeca Film Festival went as it had come: with another glitzy premiere.

Merely two weeks after the festival encroached on our city with the much-hyped premiere of Baby Mama, the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer closed the festivities to an equally if not more star-treaded red carpet and winding line of rubbernecking ticket holders.  read more »

Tuesday night’s TFF premiere of Finding Amanda was a feature directorial debut for Peter Tolan, a veteran film and television writer who's written for Murphy Brown, Analyze This and Rescue Me.

Finding Amanda is about a sit-com writer with a gambling addiction who tries to redeem himself after his wife leaves him, by going to Vegas—a natural setting for gambling addicts to find themselves—and rescuing his niece who is prostituting herself for drugs.  read more »

Strangers, AMC Village VII, 2 p.m.

It could be a setup for some sort of awesome romantic comedy: a man and woman lock eyes on a train while both traveling to Berlin for the World Cup finals before accidentally switching backpacks. But, of course, things get more complicated, as the couple in question is an Israeli man, and the woman hails from Ramallah but has been living in Paris, trying to escape the daily terrorism that comes with life in the Palestinian territories. Brace yourself for relationship metaphor for political conflict! Directed by Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv. (Watch the trailer above.)  read more »

Everywhere at Once, Village East Cinema, 1:15 p.m.

can’t help but think that inspiration for Everywhere at Once must have been born during a late-night heavy-talking/drinking session…in this film photographer Peter Lindbergh and “experimental filmmaker” (uh-oh) Holly Fisher collaborated to “weave together a tapestry of images” using Mr. Lindbergh’s photographs and clips from the 1966 Tony Richardson film Mademoiselle starring Jeanne Moreau. Ms. Moreau narrates using a poem by Kimiko Hahn. Got it?

Donkey in Lahore, Village East Cinema, 3:45 p.m.  read more »

Last night we caught up with Harmony Korine at the TFF premiere of his new film Mister Lonely. And get this—he's a married man now! The writer of Kids and director of Gummo—and ahem, former Chloe Sevigny dater—arrived with wife Rachel Korine, a soft-spoken young woman of Lolita-esque beauty from his hometown of Nashville, Tenn. He even cast her as Little Red Riding Hood in the utopian film about a commune of celebrity impersonators and sky-diving nuns!  read more »

Theater of War AMC Village VII 1 p.m.

Doesn't it seem like just yesterday (or 2006) that Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep were rehearsing for the great summer outdoor production of Mother Courage and her Children? John Walter (How to Draw a Bunny) brings the behind-the-scenes drama of staging the bleak Bertolt Brecht play (try saying that three times fast!). Mr. Walter also examines Brecht's life and career, and the includes moments with his Brecht's daughter, his collaborator Carl Weber, and vintage footage of Brecht's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.  read more »

At the after party for Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s documentary, Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot, it was pretty easy to recognize who was in the movie … just look for the giants! The film documents a 2006 game between 24 of the best high school basketball players in the country at Rucker Park in Harlem (referred to many manytimes by players as a “Mecca”). A few of the players—including Michael Beasley, whose name is constantly followed by the extended sobriquet "expected to be the No. 1 draft pick this year"—were in attendance, and the almost-seven-footers looked shy and big-footed among an adoring, rain-frizzled crowd. (During the Q and A after the film, many in the crowd kept asking Mr. Beasley if he’d come to New York. Wishful thinking).  read more »

A large crowd waited on a damp red carpet Monday night for the premier of War Inc., a satire of strife in the Middle East starring John Cusack, Marrisa Tomei and Hillary Duff and set in the fictitious state of Turaqistan.

"It was tough playing a pop star who wasn't me," confessed Ms. Duff, who plays a local Turaqistani singer named Yonica Babyyeah. "But I am getting to an age where I enjoy taking on new challenges."

Rather infamously, in this movie one of those new challenges included filming a scene in which the singer puts a live scorpion down her pants.  read more »

Savage Grace, AMC 19th Street, 3 p.m.

It’s a good thing the filmmakers of Savage Grace make sure to throw the “based on a true story” tag everywhere they can, because this film is bananas. Julianne Moore (who continues to surprise us with roles like this one), plays Barbara Baekeland, a beyond eccentric and certainly troubled socialite. As her husband Brooks (Stephen Dillane, a.k.a. Thomas Jefferson for all you John Adams fans) starts to become more aloof, Baekeland becomes, er, inappropriate with her son Tony (played by Eddie Redmayne, who was quite the Sundance superstar this year). We won’t give away the ending, except to say it is based on a real story, one that ends in murder, and has a scene in it that still has us feeling traumatized.  read more »

In just a few hours, Gunnin’ For that #1 Spot, a documentary from Adam “Beastie Boy” Yauch (aka MCA), will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The film records the “Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic" from September 2006, an event that brings 24 top high-school basketball players from all over the country to play at famed Rucker Park on 155th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem. The park has had plenty of previous basketball greats grace it—including Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dr. J.

“I think it’s really cool that they do this game up there,” said Mr. Yauch. “They could have done it in some gymnasium like other All-Stars type games. It’s cool that they do it at Rucker—a place with so much history.”  read more »

“This was sort of the project that started all of our careers,” said Adam Kurland, co-director of This is Not a Robbery, a documentary that is screening for the public tonight as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

He was referring to himself and his co-directors, Lucas Jansen and Spencer Vrooman, who gathered at Marion's on the Bowery Saturday night after the film's glitzy premiere. At the after-party were the likes of Lauren Bush and Ralph Lauren; the three were wearing ties, and it didn't look habitual with them.  read more »

“You never want to piss off a drag queen!” said director Steve Saporito at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his movie, Squeezebox! on Friday night.

The after-party for the film was a joyous excuse for drag queens and 90's-club-scene nostalgistas to gather at the Blender Theatre and relive the nights of Don Hill’s drag-rock that became known as Squeezebox!  read more »

Oskar Eustis is the creative director of the Public Theatre that put on Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage and Her Children in the summer of 2006, translated by Tony Kushner and starring Meryl Streep. John Walter is a director that made the film Theatre of War documenting the production of the play that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival yesterday.  read more »

On Saturday night at Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of Tennessee, we caught up with the righteous and stern Lieutenant Daniels from The Wire, also known as Lance Reddick.  read more »

The Wackness, AMC Village VII, 7 p.m.

This funny and sweet coming-of-age film was a crowd-pleaser when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and should no doubt do quite well for itself when it opens up this July. Jonathan Levine directed and wrote the clever script that follows Luke Shaprio, a smart alecky New York City kid waiting out his last summer before college, dealing pot in Washington Square Park, and listening to Notorious B.I.G. A few things to know about this movie: Sir Ben Kingsley is hilarious (though we kept wondering how Dustin Hoffman didn’t get cast in this role), and—disturbingly—has an onscreen makeout with an Olsen twin. Method Man shows up briefly, and Olivia Thirlby (best known as Juno’s bestie) takes on lead female love interest. Oh, dear. First Squeezebox, and now this. (And keep reading for a Beastie Boy cameo!) The 1990's are not too recent for nostalgia. (Watch the trailer above.)  read more »

"It’s not just another psychological horror film—it has some other issues it deals with as well,” said Phedon Papamichael, director of From Within, which premieres tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival. The stars of the film—Mad Men’s Elizabeth Rice, celebrity-spawn Rumer Wills, and Thomas Dekker will sashay down the red carpet outside of the AMC movie theater at 19th Street and Broadway.  read more »

Last night we found Russell Simmons hiding out in one of the VIP booths at Chinatown Brasserie at the after-party for the Tribeca Film Festival's Pray The Devil Back To Hell. Mr. Simmons, wearing one of his signature V-neck sweater vests and a Yankees cap, was thinking about politics.

It’s finally nice out, any plans for the summer?  read more »

JUVENILE DELINQUENTS!

Boy A., Pace University, 5 p.m.

Boy A. is about Jack Burridge, recently released from a British prison after serving a 14-year sentence for a crime he committed as a child. From director John Crowley, also known in the theater world (he was nominated for a Tony for directing Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman). Oooh, and oh also! According to the notes on the film provided by the festival, “this story also sheds light on the vast difference between the American and British criminal justice systems”—we’re guessing the British jails are much more polite. Lots of people have buzzed around on this one, and Harvey Weinstein’s company is releasing it so take from that what you want.

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE A DANE

Worlds Apart, Village Cinema East, 5:30 p.m.

Is Danish film where it’s at these days? In 2006 we had Susanne Bier’s excellent After the Wedding (she went on to do the stinker Things We Lost in the Fire, but we don’t blame her really for that one). At this past Sundance there was the excellent Just Another Love Story (which so far is being released here around ... let me check my calendar ... never), and now at Tribeca there’s Worlds Apart. Making its North American premiere this evening, this film gets into the murky waters of Jehovah Witnesses, following a devout 17-year-old who falls in love with a nonbeliever. Based on a true story! Expect lots of men named Niels.  read more »

At the kickoff for Tribeca last night at MoMA, our Big Cheese Publisher was in the mood to play reporter with Chevy Chase. There we were, asking Mr. Chase about his thoughts on Baby Mama, when our publisher debuted his journalistic skills.

“So let me ask you a question, and tell me how I’m doing, to what do you attribute the resurgence of Saturday Night Live?” he asked.  read more »

Last night we found 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander standing alone amid the Tribeca festivities at the Museum of Modern Art and thought it might be the perfect opportunity to inquire about those self-designed trucker hats he sports on the show.

So you design your own hats for 30 Rock.

Yeah, I’ve been making my own hats for years. I’ve been doing stand-up for 19 years and my hats have always said world champion in some language.

World Champion?

That’s my stand-up persona: The greatest athlete in the world and the biggest sex symbol in the world.  read more »

Tribeca has officially begun! The festival gets going with public screenings this afternoon. Our picks:

Trucker, Village East Cinema 1, 9 p.m.:

One of the 12 films in competition (and the only American offering), this movie has a shot at being the elusive high-profile sale out of Tribeca this year. Michelle Monaghan, who has shown up as the pretty girl in movies like Mission Impossible 3 and Gone Baby Gone (and is the star of next weekend’s Made of Honor) takes on a different kind of role: badass truck driver. When her estranged son—whom she hasn’t seen since he was an infant—shows up to stay with her, things begin to change … but not, perhaps, in the predictable ways. As one acquisition executive told us, “You can already see the poster!”  read more »

We caught up with Tina Fey last night at the Museum of Modern Art. The room was littered with teddy bears and letter-blocks in honor of the just-ended premiere of the movie Baby Mama in which she stars. How'd it go, Tina?

“It was a disaster! People ran out!” she exclaimed. “Just kidding! It went great.” Zing!  read more »

Baby Mama opened the 7th annual Tribeca Film Festival last night at the Ziegfeld Theater, and the temple of Hollywood in New York was packed full of celebrities tramping a red carpet that snaked down 54th Street almost to Sixth Avenue.

It was a comedy-loving crowd, judging from the laughs that started even before the film did, during the pre-movie Tribeca Film Festival promo short about a man as a film junkie (it’s actually funnier than it sounds), and when the lights went up you could see the proof: Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Chris Kattan, and Molly Shannon were all there to bask in the easy charms of Tina Fey's slight comedy.  read more »

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off its seventh year tonight at the Zeigfeld Theater with the big sparkly premiere of Baby Mama. The movie is about a single and successful businesswoman (Tina Fey) who hires a working-class woman (Amy Poehler) to be her surrogate. Can you believe we’ve gotten this far along in life without a wacky surrogate movie?  read more »

There will be 120 feature films screening at the Tribeca Film Festival between April 23 and May 4, among them the documentary Run for Your Life, about the origins of the New York City Marathon and its founder, Fred Lebow. “[The marathon] was about trying to bring everybody, all five boroughs, together,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the film festival. “I found—as someone who’s put on this event—watching someone else create this major cultural event … fascinating.” Ms.  read more »

Those brothers who brought us The Matrix trilogy made a film version of the 1960s Japanese Speed Racer cartoon and they'll be premiering it on the last day of the Tribeca Film Festival on May 3. Andy and Larry Wachowski are releasing their first directorial project since we followed them down the rabbit hole for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions in 2003, and this new Wonderland looks like a cross between The Fifth Element and Knight Rider. They traded leading man fav. Keanu Reeves for Into the Wild actor (and Penn's Good Boy) Emile Hirsch. He's a demon and he's gonna be chasing after someone! (Apparently, that will be Christina Ricci, who plays hot babe girlfriend Trixie). Joel Silver, a frontman for the bashful Wachowski bros and producer of Racer and the Matrix films, told USA Today last May that the film will have a "retro future" look and will center on Speed sticking it to the man (or, men in the corporate world) and trying to get famous on the race track. Go Emile, Go!

The Tribeca Film Festival just unveiled the line-up for its Spotlight, Showcase and Restored/Rediscovered sections, which include titles by Jose Padilha, Julian Schnabel, Harmony Korine, Guy Maddin and Tom Kalin, and world premieres from Peter Tolin and Adam Yauch. Director Julian Schnabel's new film Lou Reed's Berlin, a documentary about Mr. Reed playing his Berlin song cycle live for the first time at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, and Gunnin' for That #1 Spot, a doc by the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, will premiere at the fest, which begins April 23. The festival also announced its Special Events, including a conversation with Errol Morris and the North American Premiere of his latest film, Standard Operating Procedure, and a screening coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey that will include a special panel with prominent filmmakers and scientists. Full line-up after the jump.  read more »

It'll be a family affair at the Tribeca Film Festival's opening night. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy Baby Mama will open Tribeca with its world premiere on April 23. "As a film festival with a true commitment to New York City and its film community, what better way to open this year's festival than with a New York production that brings together some of the city's most beloved and creative talent," said festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, according to the Associated Press. Awww. Ms. Fey, is of course, a former SNL head writer and performer, and Ms. Poehler is a current cast member. SNL creator Lorne Michaels produced the film and it was written and directed by former sketch writer Michael McCullers. After the SNL -tastic opening night, the seventh annual festival will run through May 4.

After a near-outrage at a $6 ticket price hike last year (they went from $12 to $18), the Tribeca Film Festival will lower its general ticket prices and consolidate its venues this year. They'll drop general ticket prices from $18 to $15 and the festival (running from April 23 to May 4) is introducing six-and-ten-ticket packages that bring the admission price down to $12.50 apiece. They're eliminating far-flung screenings as far north as 72nd Street, as well as Battery Park, 34th Street and Chelsea. Nancy Schafer, the festival’s co-executive director, told the New York Post that the price reductions — unusual in the film festival world — were a response to criticism of last year’s hikes. “We tried to balance our budget by increasing ticket prices, which was a big mistake,” she said. “So we’re listening to our customers.”  read more »

There's nothing like your first time.

“I’m not going to go into mine,” actress Keri Russell told us last night, referring to the birth of her son, River Russell Deary. (What did you think we were talking about?) She paused, flashed a toothy grin and added: “But it was great.”

Bundled in an oversized jacket and looking much younger than her 31 years, the Felicity star (and Brooklyn resident!) was milling about at the after-party for a special screening of The Business of Being Born at the IFC Center in the Village.  read more »

At a press conference this morning to open the Tribeca Film Festival, Al Gore offered a hearty endorsement of Mike Bloomberg’s locally controversial plan to introduce congestion pricing to New York.

In response to a reporter’s question, Gore said he agreed with it, and called it one of the more “gutsy” proposals that mayor had offered in his time in office.

In a separate press conference minutes later, the mayor returned the favor, saying that while talk of his own presidential chances were not serious, Gore’s were considerably more real.

“This guy could be a presidential candidate,” he said.

The mayor went on to say that the more candidates voters have to choose from, the better it is for the country.

Bloomberg added, “I hope Al Gore enters the race. I think it would be good for the country.”

245 films; 12 days. Geez. In its sixth year Tribeca is transitioning from downtown booster event, groaning and growing to industry position.  read more »